Virtual Assistants for CPA and Accounting Firms
Every practice knows the pattern. Busy season arrives, and qualified accountants spend a third of it chasing missing documents and preparing files instead of preparing returns. iFOVS places Philippines-based assistants who take that layer off your team.
What your iFOVS assistant does every day
- Runs client onboarding: engagement letters, portal setup, document request lists
- Chases missing documents on a schedule, so nobody has to remember to
- Organises and renames incoming files to your naming convention
- Prepares workpapers and support schedules to your firm’s templates
- Enters and codes transactions in Xero, QuickBooks or your ledger
- Reconciles accounts and flags anything that does not tie
- Maintains the deadline calendar and warns you before, not after
- Prepares draft correspondence for review
- Keeps your practice management system current
- Handles the scheduling, reminders and rescheduling around client meetings
Systems they work in
Xero · QuickBooks Online · Karbon · Canopy · TaxDome · Dext · Hubdoc · SmartVault · Ignition · Microsoft 365
Who this works for
- Small and mid-sized CPA and accounting firms where partners are doing admin in March
- Bookkeeping practices wanting capacity without local salaries
- Fractional CFO practices needing consistent file preparation across clients
- Tax practices with a hard seasonal peak and no sensible way to staff for it
The line we do not cross
Your iFOVS assistant prepares, organises, chases and enters. They do not sign, review or advise, and they are not a substitute for a licensed professional. What changes is that your licensed people receive complete files instead of building them — which is where the margin in a practice actually lives.
What it costs
Assistants for CPA firms are hired on a straight hourly rate, part-time or full-time. Many firms scale hours up through busy season and back down after.
How to choose a virtual assistant for a CPA firm
The constraint in an accounting practice is not year-round capacity, it is the ten weeks when everything arrives at once. Hire for that, and for discretion.
Ask about busy season specifically
Can they add hours in March and step back in May, and have they actually done it? A person who cannot flex is the wrong shape for a practice.
Match the tax software
Lacerte, UltraTax, Drake and CCH ProSystem are different environments. Generic bookkeeping experience does not substitute.
Test client chasing without client damage
Most of the role is asking clients for documents they have already been asked for. Ask how they phrase the fifth request. Tone here directly affects retention.
Interrogate their handling of personal information
Tax work means Social Security numbers, bank details and income. Ask what they would do if a client emailed a document to the wrong address.
The one question to ask in the interview
How do you chase a client for the fifth missing document without losing them?
What a good answer sounds like: Look for a change in approach between attempts — channel, timing, making it easier — rather than the same email sent more firmly.
Frequently asked questions
Can we scale up for busy season?
Yes, and most firms do. Tell us in advance and we staff for the peak — adding hours to an existing assistant, or adding a second person you have already interviewed.
How do we handle client data securely?
Every team member signs an NDA before access. Work happens on controlled workstations with individual named logins and access logging. See our data privacy standards, and send your vendor questionnaire — we would rather complete it than ask you to take our word for anything.
Will they know our software?
Tell us your stack. Most of our people have worked in at least one major ledger and practice management system, and transfer during onboarding is quick. If we would be learning on your time, we will say so.
Can they speak to our clients?
Yes, in writing and by phone for routine document chasing, using your templates. Anything advisory stays with your licensed staff.
What if the person is not a fit?
Replaced at no cost if the fit is wrong early on.
Worth reading before you hire
- 13th month pay and the real cost of a Philippine employee
- Outsourcing without losing control of your data
- What this role costs, and what moves the price
- Accounting: how we support the whole function
Related roles
Let's talk
Ready to transform your business?
Tell us what's taking up your time. We'll show you exactly how a trained iFOVS team can take it off your plate — and what it costs.